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• US financial markets were closed on Monday in observance of the Juneteenth National Independence Day holiday.
• St. Louis Federal Reserve President James Bullard spoke at an event hosted by the AXA-Barcelona School of Economics on Monday. President Bullard said, “US inflation expectations could become unmoored without credible Fed [Federal Reserve] action.”
• European sharemarkets rose strongly on Monday. The panEuropean STOXX 600 index gained 1.0%, with bank stocks up 3.3%. European Central Bank (ECB) Chief Christine Lagarde reaffirmed plans to raise interest rates twice over the coming months. France’s CAC 40 index added 0.6%, lagging other major indexes, after French President Emmanuel Macron lost an absolute majority in the country’s parliamentary election. The German Dax index lifted 1.1% and the UK FTSE index gained 1.5%. In London trade, shares of Rio Tinto fell by 1.0% and BHP shares shed 1.6%.
• US sharemarkets were closed on Monday. On Friday, US equities were mixed. The Dow Jones index fell by 38 points or 0.1%, but the S&P 500 index gained 0.2% and the Nasdaq index lifted by 152 points or 1.4%. Last week, the Dow Jones shed 4.8%, the S&P 500 fell 5.8% and the Nasdaq lost 4.8%.
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• The US treasury market was shut for a public holiday on Monday. On Friday, US treasuries were mixed. US 10-year yields fell by 8 points to near 3.23%. But US 2-year yields rose by 1 point to near 3.17%. Last week, US 10-year yields rose by 6 points with US 2-year yields up by 10 points.
• Major currencies were weaker against the US dollar in European and North American trade. The Euro fell from highs near US$1.0545 to lows near US$1.0497 and was near US$1.0510 in afternoon North American trade. The Aussie dollar fell from highs near US69.95 cents to lows near US69.41 cents and was near US69.50 cents in afternoon North American trade. And the Japanese yen eased from near 134.55 yen per US dollar to JPY135.14 and was near JPY135.05 in afternoon North American trade.
• Global oil prices swung higher in volatile trading on Monday, as traders focused on tight crude supplies over slowing global economic growth. The Brent crude price rose by US$1.01 or 0.9% to
US$114.13 a barrel. And the US Nymex crude price gained US71 cents or 0.6% to US$110.27 a barrel.
• Base metal prices were mostly higher on Monday. Aluminium rose by 1.3%. And copper lifted by 0.3% after hitting 9-month lows on worries about a potential global recession. Tin fell by 1.3%.
• The gold futures price rose by US10 cents or less than 0.1% to US$1,840.70 an ounce. Spot gold was trading near US$1,838 an ounce in afternoon North American trade. The iron ore futures price fell by US$3.38 or 2.6% to US$128.00 a tonne as steel mills idled blast furnaces on demand concerns in China. Ahead: In Australia, Reserve Bank (RBA) Governor Philip Lowe delivers a speech. The June 7 RBA Board meeting minutes are issued. Consumer confidence data is due and the NSW and Queensland state budgets are handed down. In the US, the Chicago Fed national activity index is released with existing home sales data.
Originally Published by CommSec